A Reflection on “The Long Goodbye” and Ecclesiastes

While I was traveling through Israel, Greece, Turkey and Italy as part of the Wheaton in the Holy Lands program, I read several books for fun. Most of them were theological in nature or personal reflections. There was one odd-man-out, however: Raymond Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye.” A classic in hardboiled detective fiction, the novel features tough private eye Philip Marlowe outwitting mobsters, fighting wrongful imprisonment, searching for a lost friend and dealing with a disturbed Los Angeles ...